Screenwriting : YOU -Season 4 by Craig D Griffiths

Couldn't agree more. In one analysis of my script, the use of VO was praised for conveying important information quickly, In another analysis, the VO was criticized for slowing down the action. It's all so subjective, it's best to follow your gut.

I love me a good voice over. If it works it works.

Cost go up doing VO. And it's hard to film, timing camera shots with VO added in postproduction.

I dont ever remember a screenwriter invited to final cut/postproduction session. Bosses dont even invite staff tv writers to edit sessions.

Anyways, plenty of average/forgettable movies & tv shows that script experts can use as bad VO.

V.O. can work if used sparingly. As long as it moves the story forward. No rules in screenwriting.

Lisa Weiss I agree more if you change Sparingly for “well”. The amount of VO (for me) is not an indication of quality. Most people use it poorly. So having more of it is truly painful. But done well, it is enhancing and your crave it.

@Dan MaxXx dropping in audio is pretty simple. It can also be captured on the day. You just need a quiet place and the sound guy. You could do it during a set up. It is also cheaper than filming the other side of a telephone conversation. No second location, no makeup and all that stuff. ADR is a pain, trying to sync in new audio to fix an issue is mega time consuming. There is also throwing dialogue on someone’s back. You get the actor to record a line and use it when their face isn’t in shot. But that is normally a creative decision made in post.

I am more referring to a tool that is available to writers that people say “will get your script thrown in the bin”. Which I believe is a silly position to hold. Poor quality is the death of work, not the tools that made it.

@Craig Yes, well done is important.

YOU is definitely an outlier. Great show though!

I'd say to be careful to not set up your script with narration - for example, don't open with it. I think that feels really cliche. But using it in creative ways can absolutely be done!

Lots of movies start off with V.O.

I feel like Charlie Kaufman (in Adaptation) perfectly pointed out why that's a ridiculous rule to hold steadfastly to 100% of the time.

I always interpreted it as "Don't use Voice Over as a short cut." Same principle as "Show Don't Tell" imho

True, but VO is really hard to do well.

Some of the best movies made use narration and VO effectively — Clueless, Fear and Loathing, The Secret Garden, Big Fish, Pan’s Labyrinth, Trainspotting, Taxi Driver, Wolf of Wall Street, Forrest Gump. I could keep going!!

I imagine adding it to fantasy, horror or sci-fi is hard. There’s a lot of story, lots of world building. You really need to know the movement of your script and what’s on-screen. Can’t add context when you should be adding flavor.

Jarred is so right about the “show don’t tell” rule. It brings to mind when Cher drops the cookie dough into the baking sheet when she’s getting ready for Christian to come over. The entire montage is perfect and that scene in particular is one of my favorite in the thousands of movies I’ve consumed. It wouldn’t hit the same way without the voice over.

I start my new screenplay Slipshod with VO just like in Raising Arizona. I end with it too. Just a nice bookend.

In Adaptation I thought Brian Cox's character was screaming 'work on exposition' don't cheat.

I feel like I cheated with one screenplay having a therapist, bit obvious but I worked it in well. Another I have a guy talking to himself in the mirror as instructed by an anxiety workbook.

Christiane it is super hard to do well. I enjoy his constant internal monologue. I cannot think of a time I have used it (other than phone calls).

I just love when a RULE falls on its face.

Voice-over is easy to use, and I've used it in in three scripts. I just finished a 1940s film noir script in the style of Raymond Chandler, and the main character does a first-person narrative, and all of that is voice-over. So whoever says don't use it doesn't know what they're talking about. Also, they better tell Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) they shouldn't use it, so they can go back and fix their mistakes.

Craft a compelling screenplay with a unique story and characters, and don't listen to all the noise from so-called script mavens.

COOL, Uncle Phil, on the 1940's Noir script! My genre. Will it be available to read anywhere?

Jed

Shoot me a PM with your email address.

@Uncle Phil Ha! I am reading The Big Sleep right now and was toying with the idea of writing a screenplay from it. Last remake was in '78, so it is due a rerun. The plot is notoriously convoluted, but that makes it a good challenge.

VO is always an interesting discussion. YOU is a great example. So is PHYSICAL. But these are inner dialogue VO and not narrative. I still believe narrative VO is tough in TV series and even tougher in TV limited series. But great in film and I never advise against using it in a feature screenplay.

Christiane: The 1978 remake of The Big Sleep was not great. Robert Mitchum was too old to play Marlowe, and the whole thing felt uninspired. The Mitchum version of Farewell My Lovely is considerably better but still pales compared to Murder My Sweet with Dick Powell. It's the same Raymond Chandler story but with a much better delivery. I just watched it again over the weekend. Though limited by the Hays Code, the William Faulkner screenplay for The Big Sleep and the cast of the 1946 version are far better than the 1978 version.

I also watched The Two Jakes this weekend, and like Raymond Chandler, it employs the first-person, voice-over narrative, a common trope used in American Noir.

A bad version of VO is the intros at the start of episodes for the final season of the Walking Dead. The entire season was a letdown.

I had a bit of self-reflection on why I don't use narrative VO. I think it is because my stuff is written in a real-time type narrative. Hadn't realised that until this conversation. Thanks everyone.

Hi Christiane, nice idea , Only problem is I honestly believe original is so strong, any that follow are doomed before they start,

Rue narrates Euphoria and it worked out really well. Fantastic show.